Which Hobbit soundtrack do your prefer ?

WoundedWarsong · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:47 pm

Out of all 3 soundtracks, which one is your favourite ? I'm mainly taking about the special edition versions

Mine would have to be The Desolation of Smaug, it's a nice balance between combat and atmospheric music

truck22 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:45 pm

Loves the "Ironfoot" track in the Bot5a.

Eric · **Joined:** Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:58 pm **Posts:** 123

Thought question. All of them have some excellent bits in them. Unexpected Journey feels most cinematic, opening tracks are very nice. It does get quite heavy in the end tho, not very memorable in action scenes. I love Misty mountains theme, shame it is completely missing from later soundtracks. But then again, Desolation has some very nice atmospheric tracks, elf stuff and all.

Ironfoot track is great! I dont think bagpipe fits to Middle-earth, but as a track i like it alot, best from that soundtrack.

Thought question!

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:10 pm

Unexpected Journey has more pieces I like to listen to than either of the other Hobbit scores though both of the others do have some stand-out pieces. Ironfoot is great in BOT5A.

Confession time - I did not go to see the film in the cinema. I will wait for the bluray. The show times were lousy, and frankly sitting in a cinema during school holidays no longer appeals to me at all, and I am fed up with smartphone addicts.

Paradigm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:56 am **Posts:** 264

Probably AUJ, I use that one a lot for a writing soundtrack. The Misty Mountains theme is possibly one of the best motifs in all 6 soundtracks, and there's a little bit of everything in the whole thing. DoS in comparison I found a little forgettable, the only real standout for me being the Laketown theme.

I don't have the BOTFA one yet, but the one thing that I did love from my one viewing of the film was the transition of the Laketown theme, how it starts out dingy and rickety and evolves to become something more regal and heroic, until at the end when it is played after the battle it's almost reminiscent of Gondor's themes.

Mapper · **Posted:** Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:11 am

I find myself listening to individual songs from the movies on Youtube - I See Fire, The Last Goodbye, etc.

Elladan & Elrohir · **Posted:** Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:01 pm

We like The Unexpected Journey Soundtrack the most. It has great themes, and The Misty Mountains song is wonderful. The Desolation of Smaug is also cool - very lively and vibrant. I See Fire is our favourite end song.

Harfoot · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:10 pm

Great thread, my favourite out of the 3 Hobbit films so far is BOFA, with the 7th track off the Special Edition CD called Miithril.

Second favourite is the AUJ album with DOS album coming last, which i was a bit dispappointed in.

I still think all 3 LOTR sound tracks are the best of all the releases, but i listen to all 6 nearly every week.

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:14 pm

An Unexpected Journey without a doubt is the one I listen to most from The Hobbit. I'm totally with Harfoot here though: the LotR film scores far outweigh those for The Hobbit, although it did have a lot of potential with AUJ. Unfortunately, as I think I mentioned in another thread a while back, I believe the lack of Howard Shore's orchestration for DoS and BotFA really affected the quality of those scores...

Elladan & Elrohir · **Posted:** Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:51 am

Definitely! The Lord of the Rings scores are the best. The Hobbit soundtracks are nice, but they are less epic and full than the Lotr ones. Howard Shores absence as conductor and orchistrator is really felt in the DoS and especially in the BotFA. Howard Shore did compose lots of nice new themes for the DoS though, like Tauriel's, Legolas's, and the Laketown theme etc... The BotFA only has Ironfoot and Gundabad, and the rest of the soundtrack is a boring repetition of old themes.

Erurainon the Trombonist · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:55 pm

I agree with the above opinions! LotR definitely has the superior soundtracks (and, I believe, are superior in all aspects!). An Unexpected Journey, out of the Hobbit soundtracks is probably overall my favourite, but I love the Smaug music in DoS, very sinister. Howard Shore's orchestration overall is missed - I always felt his instrumental combinations were what really made LotR special.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:54 pm

The weaving in of voices at certain times was critical to the LotR soundtracks. I do like Billy Boyd's 'The Last Goodbye'.
Not such a fool of a Took, eh?

Badner · **Joined:** Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:04 pm **Posts:** 296

I like "misty mountains" most.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:08 pm

I think that is definitely one of the things that would have made the Hobbit movies better: a memorable soundtrack. There were points in LotR where you can only hear the music, and others where there wasn't any. Khazad-Dum in particular was a great example of this, it was loud where it needed to be, quiet and sinister when it called for it and just plain perfect. The Hobbit music was passable, but it wasn't memorable. Just imagine if LotR or Star Wars had passable music instead of amazing music. I bet they would be quite the cultural milestones that they are today without the amazing Howard Shore or John Williams, respectively.

jhk2005 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:44 pm

sorry for the thread necromancy - has there ever been a release of the 'eagles rescue' / 'a good omen' (version used in the movies, not the cd)?

I've heard it on youtube but not without the sound effects overlaid? It's an awesome, evocative piece of music that reminds me of 'forth eorlingas', but I can't find a 'clean' copy anywhere, if indeed, it exists?

Which Hobbit soundtrack do your prefer ?

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